Meet Austin Jennings

We had the good fortune of connecting with Austin Jennings and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Austin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I was always slightly dissatisfied with my job for one reason or another. I always dreamed of being my own boss and creating a business model that used common sense for every day practices. I had been at a particular job for a few years and been promoted to the point of being a “store manager”. I was happy enough with the title and pay, but the work life balance wasn’t there. It was the beginning of 2020 and the pandemic had just hit. After all I had done to better my job situation over the years, I was in a position to be let go. Thankfully, that did not happen and was able to keep my job for the time being. Though it prompted me to start thinking about how security and stability is not as guaranteed as we would like to believe. So I decided to take the leap of faith and start my own business and see where the journey would take me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My first job was at a 5 star hotel and I believe was the starting point and critical part into making me and my brand what we are today. I was trained from the very beginning on what excellent customer service looks like and how to achieve that on a daily bases. It has followed me throughout my career through vastly different industries and allowed me to flourish among those jobs because of the principals instilled in me from the hotel. I believe this is what sets me and my business apart from others. Outside of providing a great product. I deliver an experience and excellent customer service to my clients. No matter how much business they do with me. Most of it comes down to great communication. That is with any industry, but especially true when you are a small business. We all know how hard it is to get in contact with big corporations, being a small business allows you the opportunity to be so much better than your competitors in regards to communication even allowing you to compete with big companies. The road has been easier than expected, but would not say it was easy overall and still have a lot of growing that needs to be done. I believe if you have a great product and you deliver on your customer service every time, the business will come. I have most of my business through referrals. Which is how you can tell if you are doing a good job. People love to refer if they believe they have the better option. If you do the job decent but do not go above and beyond, there will be no reason for them to refer you to someone else.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would start with any major sport we have in the DFW area. My personal favorite being the Dallas Stars. I would start by taking them to a stars game at the American airlines center. For more attractions I would take them to Six Flags them park to appease the thrill seekers and then would follow that up with the Dallas Aquarium, a really fun and unique experience. For eating, I love some good steak, so I would hit up Texas de Brazil, which has unlimited and some of the best steak around. I would also recommend Mercado’s in Arlington which is Hispanic food.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to thank in particular my Dad and my Wife. I could go on for awhile thanking all the individuals who taught me the skills to get where I am at today. They were not influential in my pursuance of owning my own business. My Dad has always been a hard worker and instilled in me that everything good in life comes through hard work and not giving up, even if its not easy. He also helped me develop into a critical thinker and how to pursue something more than just a 9-5 job if that’s what I wanted. My wife has supported me more than anyone and the encouragement and love I receive from her allows me to keep on pushing even when I don’t feel like it. Without those two individuals I would not be standing where I am today.

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